Ethical restaurant deli - Pickledgreen - will have no leftovers

Published on Saturday 24 October 2009 14:49

A SCOTTISH chef who trained under Anton Edelmann at London's Savoy Hotel is setting up a chain of ethical and eco-efficient restaurants in Scotland and northern England.

Steve Brown, 27, who also worked with Gordon Ramsay and Angela Hartnett, intends to open the first branch of Pickledgreen on Edinburgh's Rose Street next month.

Brown and Belgian business partner Mel Colmant aim to open five restaurant-delis before 2014, which will employ at least three homeless people at each. Staff will total 50 on a 1million investment from the pair's personal capital.

"We want to show that you can run a profitable, successful hospitality business with strong ethics behind it," said Brown. "We are using local suppliers and will use organic and free range where we can. Our kitchens will use no gas."

The restaurants will be decorated using organic paint and will be fitted with energy efficient fridges and cookers. Food waste will be handed to a charity which turns it into natural fertiliser.

Brown said his idea was driven by the waste he witnessed in his ten-year hospitality career, which has also seen him work at Le Grand Hotel du Cap Ferrat in the south of France.

"In some kitchens, gas burners are on from seven in the morning to midnight," he said.

The Rose Street restaurant will have a dining room upstairs and a deli selling takeaway food downstairs.